Ted Chapin is a retired architect and a full-time artist, and helps to keep Thomas's legacy alive. The Chapin family are pictured here: brother Ted, mom Marjorie, dad Edward, Thomas then called Tommy, and sister Sarah, also known as Sally.
Ted: "We had gone to Manchester, Connecticut for that last concert, which was a fund raiser. Everyone knew he was dying. . .
"All these musicians had come up from New York, and were doing a benefit concert, and there were people who were turned away. It was standing room only. It was an amazing concert, and not just because of the quality of the musicians. It was because of the poignancy and everything. My father was in the green room; Tom was well enough to be there and to be part of the scene. He was just barely well enough to get out on stage. He played the calmest piece that he had ever recorded, which was Aeolus, a sublimely meditative piece for the flute. This is absolutely the calmest piece. Oh my God, to be making that your very last piece.
"Then three days later, he was in a Providence, Rhode Island hospital about to be put on a respirator. He had a massive infection. He never recovered from the respiratory problem, so these were his last moments of consciousness. I was ushered in, and everyone was given five minutes to go see him and say goodbye.
"I just said something to the effect, 'My God Tom, that piece you were playing in Manchester, was so beautiful. What was the name of it?' And he looked at me, and you could see that little flash of annoyance, like, 'what do you mean, you don’t know? Don’t you remember? That’s Aeolus.' And I said, 'Yeah, the god of the wind.' And he said, 'It’s dedicated to you.'
"I checked the back of the record when I got home and exactly, yeah. It says right there in print, Dedicated to my brother Ted, god of the wind."
Ted: "We had gone to Manchester, Connecticut for that last concert, which was a fund raiser. Everyone knew he was dying. . .
"All these musicians had come up from New York, and were doing a benefit concert, and there were people who were turned away. It was standing room only. It was an amazing concert, and not just because of the quality of the musicians. It was because of the poignancy and everything. My father was in the green room; Tom was well enough to be there and to be part of the scene. He was just barely well enough to get out on stage. He played the calmest piece that he had ever recorded, which was Aeolus, a sublimely meditative piece for the flute. This is absolutely the calmest piece. Oh my God, to be making that your very last piece.
"Then three days later, he was in a Providence, Rhode Island hospital about to be put on a respirator. He had a massive infection. He never recovered from the respiratory problem, so these were his last moments of consciousness. I was ushered in, and everyone was given five minutes to go see him and say goodbye.
"I just said something to the effect, 'My God Tom, that piece you were playing in Manchester, was so beautiful. What was the name of it?' And he looked at me, and you could see that little flash of annoyance, like, 'what do you mean, you don’t know? Don’t you remember? That’s Aeolus.' And I said, 'Yeah, the god of the wind.' And he said, 'It’s dedicated to you.'
"I checked the back of the record when I got home and exactly, yeah. It says right there in print, Dedicated to my brother Ted, god of the wind."
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